No doubt you’ve acquired a new client because a satisfied client talked up your great services to a friend, family member or colleague. If a client can help bring business through the door, consider the value of an industry influencer talking about you. That person could be someone in a business that complements yours. The owner of a gym, an occupational therapist or a chiropractor are professionals who would be in a good position to talk about massage.
You could gain considerable visibility and validation if these individuals were open to:
- Writing a blog post about your expertise and services.
- Sharing information about you in their social media accounts.
- Inviting you to submit a guest post on their site.
- Linking to posts on your site.
Any of these activities increases the likelihood that the information about you will be seen by more people, which increases its potential to be shared. A well-respected influencer most likely will have more followers than you who in turn will share the information on their social sites and also start following your business.
Find Your Ideal Influencer
Key to the success of influencer marketing is finding the right influencers to help spread the message about your business. The influencer should be someone who resonates with your business and your audience and with your brand. For example, if you target an older client base find an influencer who also has a strong following among a mature audience.
Questions To Ask When Evaluating An Influencer:[1]
- Could their audience be interested in your services?
- How often do they publish?
- Do they promote others in your field and how often?
- Do their engagement metrics look natural? (Visits per post, time spent on a post)
To find influencers relevant to your business, browse industry-related hashtags on social media and find out who is talking about competitors. Track any mentions of your business to see who might already be talking about you. Review competitors’ sites to see if they are linking to influencers who might be useful to you. Set Google alerts to find any posts mentioning your business.
Influencer marketing platforms also can help you find influencers appropriate for your business. These platforms enable search their databases of influencers and filter by reach, category, engagement, social platforms, and more. Fourstarzz, BuzzSumo, BuzzStream, HYPR, and TRIBE are some influencer marketing platforms to check out.[2]
Building Influencer Relationships
Start by building a relationship with influencers who are appropriate for your client base. You can follow and like their posts and make comments that capture their attention to build relationship with them.
Once you feel you’ve made a connection, reach out to them via LinkedIn or another social channel. You also can send them an email. Whatever channel you use, make sure to:
- Indicate how you value their work.
- Convey the value you can provide them, for example by sharing their posts and linking to their site or including information about them in a newsletter, if you have one. You also could ask them to contribute to your blog.
- Include a clear call-to-action. Ask them about featuring you and what you uniquely offer in one their post. Optionally, ask if they would be interested in a contributed post.
These are some things to consider as you build your influencer program. It may take time to find the right influencers and build strong relationships. But when you do, you’ll improve your online reputation to attract more clients.